Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Want Corporate Money Out of Politics?

Then stop offering them something for sale? So long as the government has the power to rob you to pay a corporation, so long as special interests receive handouts, then there will be those trying to purchase those handouts via campaign contributions.

Here is the problem with corporate welfare and other government subsidies. They help a concentrated group a lot, those they hurt (you, me, all consumers) are dispersed, the pain is spread amongst the many. So, you aren't likely to raise the type of capital it takes to lobby congress to repeal a subsidy because it costs you an extra $75/year, whereas those who receive those subsidies are willing to spend the millions in campaign donations required to keep the subsidies that net them hundred of millions in additional revenue. This is why we still subsidize sugar farmers, corn farmers, green energy producers, appliance makers, oil companies, airlines, airports, car makers, train companies, parcel companies, mortgage companies, banks, investment firms, foreign governments, defense contractors, and...well, you get the idea. The concentration of advantage in each of those cases insures that there will always be more money spread to support them than to get rid of them. This is why without revolution, we will always subsidize those who need it least at the expense of those who can afford it least.

Corporate welfare and other subsidies must end, but the only way to make that happen is to enforce that former protector of our security, the Constitution, but that is a topic for another discussion.